Drømmen om å gjenkristne Europa
The political leadership in Hungary, Poland and Russia talks of protecting Christians abroad - and about saving Europe from itself.
Viljar Haavik
Viljar Haavik is a Research Fellow at NUPI's Research Group on Peace, Conflict and Development, as part of the research project Strengthening Frag...
Do peace operations work? And can they protect civilians?
These were some of the questions raised when researchers from the NUPI-led Effectiveness of Peace Operations Network (EPON) shared their insights in Washington, D.C. and New York.
PM Abiy deserves the Nobel Prize, but can he keep the peace?
OP-ED: A process of change has been initiated in Ethiopia and the region, but it is under severe threat.
Has the West forgotten about Chechnya?
PODCAST: Ramzan Kadyrov’s reign in Chechnya has cast a wave of fear and oppression across this Russian republic. What does that mean for the people living there, and for those who have fled the region in fear? And why don’t we talk more about this in the West?
Preventing Violent Extremism in the Balkans and the MENA: Strengthening Resilience in Enabling Environments (PREVEX)
The overarching objective of PREVEX is to put forward more fine-tuned and effective approaches to preventing violent extremism....
China and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (CHINSDG)
What are Chinese priorities in relation to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and how do Chinese actors promote their interests and prospects for international cooperation?...
Breakfast seminar: Street versus system – the protest wave in the Middle East
Over the past months, popular protests have shaken the rulers of Algeria, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq. In this breakfast seminar, NUPI researchers discuss the nature of the protests and the prospects for change.
The GeGaLo index: Geopolitical gains and losses after energy transition
This article presents the GeGaLo index of geopolitical gains and losses that 156 countries may experience after a full-scale transition to renewable energy. The following indicators are considered for inclusion in the index: fossil fuel production, fossil fuel reserves, renewable energy resources, governance, and conflict. Some of these represent potential gains; some represent losses; and some the capacity of countries to handle changes in geopolitical strength. Five alternative versions of the index are developed to work out the optimal design. First, the energy resource indicators are combined with equal weights to create two simple versions of the index. Next, governance and conflict indicators are included to create three more complex versions of the index. The index provides useful pointers for strategic energy and foreign policy choices: geopolitical power will be more evenly distributed after an energy transition; Iceland will gain most; Russia may be one of the main holders of stranded geopolitical assets; China and the USA will lose more geopolitically than foreseen by other analyses. The index also indicates a lack of emphasis in parts of the literature on space for renewable energy infrastructure and on domestically sourced coal for the current strength of countries such as China and the United States.
Stater og transnasjonale motstandsnettverk: Irans mobilisering av irakiske sjiamilitser etter 1979
The Islamic Republic of Iran has been building a transnational network of Shi’a militias since 1979, commonly referred to as its asymmetric warfare capability and ‘strategic depth’. While it is a known fact that Iran has mobilised Shi’a militias in other countries to strengthen its regional position, how they have done it has not received much scholarly attention. The objective of this paper is to explain this phenomenon by examining how Iran has mobilised Iraqi Shi’a militias since 1979. The selected cases are the mobilisation processes of three most prominent Shi’a militias in Iraq today: Badr Organisation, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, and Kata’ib Hizbullah. Although variation exists between them, they are all cases of Iran’s network of armed resistance groups, which have allowed it to engage in covert or indirect conflict intervention in the Middle East. To logically connect the empirical data with the study’s research question, I have used a case study research design, with process tracing and the semi-structured interview as methods for data collection. Furthermore, the empirical analysis has been guided by a theoretical framework that has attempted to build a bridge between the existing literatures on state-militia dynamics and contentious politics.